TITLE:I LOVE HIM BUT HE IS NOT SAVED ‘Tufiakwa! Mbanu! In whose house? O ga eme!’ those where Papa’s exact words few years ago when he got to know about my relationship with Deji. ‘A Yoruba boy? What good can come from those Yorubas? All they do is party every weekend. No child of mine would mix blood.’ ‘Papa,’ I begged, ‘give him a chance; you haven’t even met him yet. He is very pleasant and we attend the same fellowship’ ‘Mechie onu! O wuu soso fellowship! You think you can blackmail me with that, because we have told you and your siblings to do things the Christian way?’ ‘No o, Papa! Why will I want to do that?’ ‘Ask yourself o!’ ‘Mba Papa! It’s not just the fellowship. We care about each other and he is a member of Christ Anointing Centre.’ ‘Christ Anointing Centre?’ I could see Papa’s face metamorphose. His cheeks flushed with surprise and his eyes glistened with excitement. That was our church; where my siblings and I were born into. ‘Christ Anointing Centre nke anyi?’ he asked ‘Yes Papa,’ I was smiling. There was an abrupt change in his mood, ‘O wuru kwa? What if he is a church member? That still doesn’t change anything!’ ‘But Papa, Deji is a church member who happens to attend the same fellowship I attend. He really is a good boy. Respectful, prayerful and disciplined.’ ‘Yes, I know Yoruba people are respectful, but Omalicha, is that a reason to betray your own kinsmen? This man would do nothing but partying round all weekend. Why are you behaving as if you have lost hope? You are still young and very beautiful. Stop behaving as if you are an old fat decaying thirty something woman. Be patient, a good Christian man will come your way. The right one.’ ‘He is Christian,’ I reminded. Papa’s eyes widened as if to question me of rebellion. Deji’s mother was also against him marrying me, an Igbo girl. ‘Those rude ones,’ she clapped her hands bewildered, ‘who don’t know what respect is. Lai! lai! ko le sele, ni ile tani?’ I imagined her telling her son. But the moment she saw me, she took into me. Not because I was pretty – far from it! She could remember my face as an active church member. I taught the children in Sunday School for a while. I served as an usher in the main church and I took bible readings occasionally. Her face lit up with joy as she signalled to her son that he had done well. It remained to persuade Papa that I loved Deji so much. The day I met Chukwuemeka, I am sure the chains of the captive broke loose. There was a tightening at the left part of my chest- not of discomfort but pleasurable and daring. I didn’t find it difficult to breathe rather I felt relieved; a breath of fresh air! Papa Amaka would like him just as I did. A ma mu. I met him at the insurance company where I worked. He was one of our clients.Although I wasn’t the one attending to him, he couldn’t hide his stares at me with his lovely smile that revealed his broken upper incisor. I flushed every time I caught him staring. He would later ask for my number, give me a call and we would be friends. I would get to know he was an accountant. We would later go on dates, share memorable experiences and derive pleasure in each other’s company. The thing about Chukwuemeka that set my heart aflutter, I really cannot explain. But he was caring, loving, and hardworking, words cannot explain it all. It wasn’t as if Deji was not all of these but…err….actually, mba he wasn’t! Deji loved me, no doubt and we had been dating for a really long time, long enough to feel I had known him all my life. He was caring and loving in his own way but it was shallow, not exactly what I wanted. There was always this emptiness I felt which I thought would fill up with time. The consolation I had was that he was a Christian brother and a Christian sister ought to be with a Christian brother and so it had to be Deji. Papa Amaka did not like Deji so I was extremely surprised at his reaction when I met Chukwuemeka and informed him. ‘Chukwuemeka?’ Papa’s face was bright. His cheeks failed to hide the excitement he bore. ‘Is he a believer?’ It was at that point something got stuck in my throat. I coughed violently but it wouldn’t come out. I went to get water. ‘You better stop wasting my time’ Papa Amaka roared. My mother rushed out to find out what the problem was. ‘He is Igbo,’ I replied. ‘Is that the answer to my question?’ ‘Chukwuemeka?’ my mother asked. I had told her about him and she had been enthusiastic just like me, confident that my father would be elated. She on the other hand, liked Deji because he was a serious Christian and she believed the strength and unity of the family was determined by how prayerful the pillars are. A man was the main pillar and so had to be spiritually inclined to lead and uphold his family. She too had failed to ask me if he was a Christian, she assumed I knew what was right and would do the right thing. ‘Mba’ I finally replied. My mother pulled back ‘mba!’ while my father yelled ‘O gini meziri Deji, the son –in-law we were finally getting accustomed to’ he tapped his foot on the floor. I could tell he was upset. ‘Amaka is that what they taught you in church?’ he stood from where he sat and almost immediately sat back ‘Is that what you teach the young believers?’ My mother placed her hands akimbo looking intensely at me as if she had just seen a monkey jump on my face. My hands were at my back. I maintained eye contact with the ground unable to look into my father’s eyes which glimmered with fire. ‘How can you leave a believer for an unbeliever?’ Papa Amaka roared. ‘Amaka, at your age you want to start changing men like clothes.’ He coughed and cleared his throat, reached for the toilet roll on the stool beside him. He removed a small quantity from the roll and spat into it. ‘The bible itself says you should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Amaka you claim to have read the bible from cover to cover more than five times. What are you reading?’ ‘The bible also says love your neighbour as yourself and that we should not judge.’ My voice was low. ‘What did I just hear you say? Did you talk back at me?’ My mother dragged me away. To be continue.......watch out for part2
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 23:04:17 +0000
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